Cheese flavoring

ABSTRACT

A flavoring composition for imparting a goat&#39;&#39;s milk cheese flavor to foodstuffs comprising butanone, 2-pentanone, 2heptanone, 2-nonanone, caproic acid, n-heptanal, methyl caproate and ethyl caprate.

United States Patent 1 [111 3,91 1,158

Groux et al. 1 Oct. 7, 1975 [54] CHEESE FLAVORING 3,635,737 1/1972 Baron 426/222 x [75] Inventors: Michel John Arthur Groux, OTHER PUBLICATIONS Lauperswil; Mlche Momas, La

Tour-de-Peilz, both of Switzerland Fenarolis Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, 1971, p. [73] Assignee: Societe dAssistance Technique pour Produits Nestle S.A., Lausann Jacobs, Morris 8., Synthetic Food Adjuncts, 1947, pp.

Switzerland 123, 145.

[22] Filed: Oct. 15, 1974 I Primary Examiner-A. Louis Monacell [21] Appl' 514400 Assistant Examiner-Esther L. Massung Attorney, Agent, or FirmWatson Leavenworth 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Kelton & Taggart Oct. 22, 1973 Switzerland 14885/73 [52] US. Cl. 426/534 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. A23L 1/226 A flavoring composition for imparting a goats milk Field of Search 222 cheese flavor to foodstuffs comprising butanone, 2-

pentanone, 2-heptanone, 2-n0nanone, caproic acid,

[56] R fer n s C t d n-heptanal, methyl caproate and ethyl caprate.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1962 Bavisotto 426/65 3 Claims, N0 Drawings CHEESE FLAVORING This invention relates to synthetic flavouring compositions and, more particularly, to a composition for providing food products with a flavour of the goats milk cheese type. I

Various products intended to impart a cheese-like flavour to food products such as spreads, sauces or processed cheese, have already been proposed. These compositions generally contain substances whose presence in the cheese aroma has been detected by analysis. These substances include certain methyl ketones such as Z-pentanone, 2-heptanone, 2-nonanone, certain fatty acids such as caprylic acid or butyric acid, certain lactones, and also phenol. Unfortunately, these compositions generally have only a very vague aromatic note, in other words a note which is scarcely representative of the particular aroma of a certain type of cheese, and contain a large number of ingredients.

The present invention relates to a flavouring of simple chemical composition whose aroma reproduces that of a cheese of the goats milk type particularly well. More particularly, the invention relates to a flavouring composition for providing food products with a cheese flavour of the goats milk type, containing at least the following substances whose respective quantities are expressed in parts by weight:

hutanone 30 to 40 pentanone the butanone representing at least 30 and at most 50 7c by weight of these two ketones,

l-heptanone 4 to 8 2-nonanone 1.5 to 2.5 caproic acid 40 to 60 and being distinguished by the fact that it contains, in combination with the aforementioned substances, from to 9 parts by weight of n-heptanal and from 2 to 7 parts by weight of methyl caproate and ethyl caprate, the ethyl caprate representing at least and at most 50 7: by weight of the two esters.

The flavouring composition according to the invention can be incorporated in various food-grade products such as sauces, fatty emulsions such as mayonnaise, spreads or processed cheese. It can be incorporated directly in food-grade products containing fats in cases where these products are in liquid or pasty form either during their processing or in their final form. This composition can also be added in the form of a solution in an edible oil or, where thefood-grade product in question is low in fats, in the form of an aqueous emulsion which may, for example, be sprayed onto a powder-form product.

The composition according to the invention, which has a high flavouring power, can be added to the food products which it is desired to flavour in quantities of from 50 to 500 ppm (by weight), according to the re quired flavouring intensity. In general, the composition according to the invention is preferably added in quantities of from 200 to 400 ppm. The food product ultimately obtained has a perfectly stable cheese flavour of the goats milk cheese type whose nature and intensity persist for as long as the food product thus flavoured retains its own characteristics The n-heptanal, the methyl caproate and the ethyl caprate, substances whose presence in the aroma of cheese had not previously been detected, have proved to be constituents with a decisive role in the composition according to the invention, because organoleptic tests, which are described in detail hereinafter, have shown that a composition only containing known substances of the type normally used for preparing flavourings having a cheese aroma, namely butanone, 2- pentanone, Z-heptanone, 2-nonanone and caproic acid, only provides food products, such as a neutral tasting processesd cheese, with a cheese flavour of vague, indefinite character. By contrast, if this composition contains, in combination with the known substances, nheptanal, methyl caproate and ethyl caprate, it is able to provide food products with a highly specific flavour similar to that of a cheese of the goats milk type, especially if the quantity of ethyl caprate used represents at least 20 and at most 50 of the two esters methyl caproate and ethyl caprate, irrespective of the quantity of n-heptanal used (within the limits specified above).

Although not absolutely essential, the composition according to the invention may contain, in addition to butanone, Z-pentanone, Z-heptanone and 2-nonanone, other methyl ketones such as Z-undecanone in quantities by weight up to 1.5 of the total weight of the composition. The composition according to the invention may also contain l-octen-3-ol in quantities by weight of up to 2 7: of the total weight, and Z-heptanol and/or 2-nonanol again in quantities by weight of up to 2 In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the composition contains these two alcohols in similar quantities.

The composition according to the invention may be prepared very easily by mixing first of all the butanonc. Z-pentanone, Z-heptanone, 2-nonanone and the caproic acid and then the n-heptanol, methyl caproate and ethyl caprate in the proportions specified above. The mixing and dissolving temperature, providing it is compatible with the stability of the constituents, is not a critical parameter in these operations. Mixing and dissolution can be carried out either at ambient temperature or at a slightly higher temperature, for example of the order of 50 to 60C, optionally with stirring in order to accelerate homogenization of the mixture.

In a preferred modification, the caproic acid is added last of all.

The mixture is preferably left standing for a few hours, for example for 10 to 12 hours, before being incorporated in the food product to be flavoured. The composition obtained is in the form of a colourless, oily liquid which is substantially insoluble in water and soluble in fats. It can be stored at ambient temperature for prolonged periods of the order of 12 months without losing its flavouring power.

The perception threshold of the composition according to the invention, i.e. the quantity by weight of the composition expressed in relation to the quantity of food product to which it is added, beyond which a cheese aroma of the goats milk cheese type is detected in the food product, was determined with samples of neutral tasting processed cheese containing predetermined quantities of the flavouring composition. These samples were presented to a jury of lO trained tasters in a tasting session of the triangular type in which each sample is presented to each of the tasters with two other samples, two of the three samples being similar.

In a tasting of this kind, the taster, before pronouncing judgement on the samples, has to identify the unique sample which ensures the significance of tasting. A cheese of the Fontina type with a ripening time of 3 months was used as the food product to be flavoured. The cheese obtained following removal of the rind had a slightly acid and salty taste without any pronounced aromatic character. This cheese was grated and then melted by heating to 90C in the presence of conventional melting salts (polyphosphates and pyrophosphates). The compositions according to the invention described in the following Examples were added to the masses of molten cheese at a temperature of approximately 75C in predetermined quantities by weight beginning at 10 ppm and increasing in units of 10 ppm to I ppm for each composition. After cooling and solidification of the cheese, 10 samples were thus obtained for each flavouring composition. The samples were submitted to the jury of tasters. The perception threshold of a given composition was defined as the content by weight in the sample of flavouring composition, expressed in ppm, beyond which 8 out of 10 of the tasters resolved the triangle and detected an aroma of goat's milk cheese in the sample.

The perception threshold thus defined and measured proved to be of the order of 50 ppm for each of the compositions tested.

Organoleptic tests carried out under the same conditions for flavouring contents of from 350 to 900 ppm, increasing in stages of 50 ppm, showed that the samples containing more than 500 ppm of flavouring composition had an unpleasant flavour different from the required flavour.

Determination of the perception threshold on a composition containing neither n-hcptanal nor esters (methyl caproate and ethyl caprate), but the other aforementioned substances in the same quantities, showed that this threshold is of the order of 100 ppm, beyond which 8 out of the IQ tasters detected an indefinite cheese flavour.

The following Examples illustrate some embodiments of the invention, although the invention is by no means confined to the conditions described in these Examples. In the Examples, quantities are expressed in weight.

EXAMPLE 1 The following substances were mixed in liquid form at ambient temperature:

hutzinone l4.0 g z-pentanonc l6.0 g Z-heptanone 4.0 g 2-nonanone l. g

5.0 g of n-heptanal, 3.2 g. of methyl caproate and 2.8 g of ethyl caprate, are then dissolved in the liquid mixture with gentle stirring. After these substances have dissolved, 53.2 g. of caproic acid are added to the mixture.

0. l5 g of this composition are then added to 500 g of molten cheese of the Fontina type referred to above.

This cheese is then submitted to the jury of tasters. 8 out of these tasters considered the cheese to have a flavour characteristic of very ripe goats milk cheese.

For comparison, samples of two processed cheese are submitted to the jury of tasters in a triangular tasting. The first cheese contains 300 ppm of the composition EXAMPLE 2 A flavouring composition containing the following substances is prepared:

Substances Quantities in parts by weight Butanone l4.9 Z-pentanone 19.9 Z-heptanone Z-nonanone caproic acid 4 n-heptanal methyl caproate ethyl caprate Z-heptanol Z-nonanol l-octen-B-ol When added to the processed cheese described above in a proportion of 300 ppm, this composition provides the cheese with an aroma characteristic of goats milk cheese.

EXAMPLE 3 A flavouring composition containing the following substances is prepared:

Substances Quantities in parts by weight Butanone 16.5 2-pentanone l6.6 Z-heptanone 7.0 2nonanone 2.0 n-heptanal 9.0 caproie acid 40.0 methyl caproate 3.5 ethyl caprate 3.4

2-heptanol 2.0

When added to molten cheese of the kind described above in a proportion of 350 ppm, this composition provides the cheese with an aroma typical of strong or mature goats milk cheese.

EXAMPLE 4 A flavouring composition containing the following substances is prepared:

Substances Quantities in parts by weight Butanone 12.2 Z-pentanone l 8.4 Z-heptanone 4.l 2-nonmiune 2.2 n-heptanal 6.0 caproic acid 55.0 methyl caproate 1.2 ethyl caprate 0,9 l-octen-Z-ul 1.1

When added to the processed cheese described above in a proportion of 200 ppm, this composition butanone to pentanone the butanone representing at least 30 and at most by weight of these two ketones,

2-heptanone 2-nonanonc caproic acid 40 to distinguished by the fact that it contains, in combination with the aforementioned substances, from 5 to 9 parts by weight of n-heptanal and from 2 to 7 parts by weight of methyl caproate and ethyl caprate, the ethyl caprate representing at least 20 and at most 50 7: by weight of the two esters.

2. The composition of claim 1 for providing food products with a'goats milk cheese flavour, containing additionally an effective amount up to 2 7cby weight of l-octen-3-ol and/or up to 2 by weight of 2- heptanol and/or 2-nonanol.

3. The process of providing a food product with a cheese flavour of the goats milk type, by adding the composition of claim 1 to said food product in a proportion of 50 to 500 ppm by weight.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3,911,158 DATED 1 October 7, 1975 lNVENTOR(5) 1 Michel John Arthur Groux and Michel Moina's It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Inventors names: change "MicheMoinas" to read --Michel Moinas--.

Col. 1, lines 30-31, change "2- pentanone" to read -2-pentanone).

Col. 1, line 36, change "l-heptanone" to read --2-heptanone-.

. Col. 5-, lines 10-11, (Claim 1) change "2- pentanone" to read -2pentanone)-.

Signed and Scaled this O Sixth a O [SEAL] D y f February 1979 Anest:

RUTH c M ASON DONALD W. BANNER Arresting Officer Commissioner of Patents and T rademrks 

1. A FLAVOURING COMPOSITION FOR PROVIDING FOOD PRODUCTS WITH A CHEESE FLAVOUR OF THE GOAT''S MILK CHEESE TYPE, CONTAINING AT LEAST THE FOLLOWING SUBSTANCES, WHOSE QUANTITIES ARE EXPRESSED IN PARTS BY WEIGHT.
 2. The composition of claim 1 for providing food products with a goat''s milk cheese flavour, containing additionally an effective amount up to 2 % by weight of 1-octen-3-ol and/or up to 2 % by weight of 2-heptanol and/or 2-nonanol.
 3. The process of providing a food product with a cheese flavour of the goat''s milk type, by adding the composition of claim 1 to said food product in a proportion of 50 to 500 ppm by weight. 